Modern communication typically involves transmitting signals from one point to another point over, on, or through a communications channel or a signal path. The signals are encoded or imprinted with data (or analog information) so that transmission of the signals conveys data or information between the two points.
The communications channel can comprise a wire, a cable, a conductive medium of copper or some metal that is embedded in or attached to an insulator or dielectric material, a transmission line, a trace on a printed circuit board or a ceramic substrate, a signal path, etc. The communications channel may carry digital or analog information between two points that are within a single enclosure or housing, that are on a common substrate, that are disposed across a room from one another, that may exist on a back plane, or that are remote with respect to one another, to list a few possibilities. For example, the communications channel can comprise a serial or parallel data bus in applications such as memory interfaces, video or display interfaces, or some other communications or computing context.
Many conventional communications channels undesirably radiate a portion of the signal energy that transmits thereon. As signals flow along the communications channel, some signal energy may escape or spill out of the channel, typically transverse to or distinct from the intended direction of signal propagation.
This phenomenon is particularly relevant to signals having high-frequency components. For example, digital signals often comprise high frequencies associated with transitions between digital states, e.g. “digital one” and “digital zero”. The high frequency signal components provide sharp (or short) “rise times” that help detector systems distinguish between the digital states to read or decode the information that the signals carry. As the frequency content of the communicated signal increases, the power or intensity of the associated electromagnetic (“EM”) radiation emitted from the channel also increases.
As communication equipment and services evolve and become more sophisticated, communications channels are called upon to provide increased bandwidth or to carry more data. Increasing the communication speed to achieve expanded bandwidth typically involves transmitting higher signal frequencies. As discussed above, those higher frequencies are prone to causing the communications channel to emit radiation undesirably. Accordingly, as the bandwidth of the communicated signal is increased, typically for communicating data at a faster rate or for providing sharper rise times, the amount of EM radiation increases. For example, a conventional communications channel transmitting data at a rate on the order of 10 Giga bits per second (Gbps) or higher may emit a detrimental level of EM radiation.
The increased radiation can be problematic for multiple reasons. First, the radiation can be received as noise by other electrical channels and circuits within the same device or operating in some proximity thereof. This noise can be severe enough to cause data errors in digital systems or to produce noticeable degradation in audio or video signal quality of an analog audio or video device.
As a second problem, radiation emitted by a communications channel of a first device can be severe enough to be received as noise by a nearby second device. Devices having antennas are especially susceptible, as antennas are designed to pick up radio signals, which are a form of EM radiation. Exemplary second devices so impacted include mobile phones, global positioning sensor (“GPS”) receivers, televisions and radios receiving over-the-air signals through antennas, and wireless network communications devices (such as based on IEEE 802.11 standards). In such applications, the EM radiation emitted from the first device can cause a degraded signal or, in more severe cases, a loss of signal in the second device.
A third problem associated with radiated emissions concerns compliance with communication regulations. To help prevent one communication device interfering with operation of another device, government entities such as the Federal Communication Commission (“FCC”) often impose limits on the EM power that a device is allowed to emit. Achieving product design initiatives while ensuring compliance with FCC regulations is often challenging for designs that rely on conventional technologies. Moreover, allowing EM power to radiate from a communications channel poses a risk of violating a government imposed limit.
One conventional technology for confining EM radiation emitted from a channel involves physically shielding the channel via surrounding or encasing the channel in conductive material that blocks the emitted radiation. One disadvantage of such conventional shields is the physical space that the encasing and associated materials occupy. With a trend towards increasingly compact communication systems, for example in connection with handheld applications, the occupied space of such conventional shielding technologies can present a significant disadvantage.
Another conventional approach to addressing radiated emissions involves differential signaling. In differential signaling, a pair of conductors (rather than just a single conductor and an associated ground) typically carry the electrical signal. The pair of conductors communicate a single signal by carrying both the intended signal and its negated (or antipodal or complementary) version. Each of the paired conductors emits radiation that is opposite of (or out of phase with respect to) its companion conductor. Consequently, the total radiation that the pair emits is relatively low, as the emitted radiation waves tend to cancel one another. While frequently effective in reducing EM radiation, differential signaling generally doubles the number of conductors (and associated electrical contacts) in a communications system. The resulting increase in components, costs, and complexity is often undesirable. Moreover, in many circumstances involving high-speed signals, differential signaling provides a less than adequate level of radiation suppression.
To address these representative deficiencies in the art, what is needed is a capability for reducing radiated emissions from a communications channel or signal path. A further need exists for a capability to adapt or shape communication signals to provide signal waveforms that avoid emitting problematic radiation during transmission over a communications channel. Yet another need exists for a technology that can transform adapted or shaped communication signals back to their original state following transmission over a communications channel, thereby facilitating robust or low-error-rate detection. One more need exists for a system and/or method that can process a signal at the input and the output ends of a communications channel to reduce radiated emissions without adversely impacting reception, detection, encoding, or interpretation of the signal at the output end. Addressing or more of these needs (or some related deficit in the art) would facilitate higher data rates, more robust communications, smaller or more cost-effective communication or computing appliances, less interference, and/or a general advance in the communication and computing arts.